Young Jesmond entrepreneur launches online fashion rental startup

A young entrepreneur in Newcastle has launched an online fashion rental business.

Isabella West, 25, from Jesmond, is the brains behind Hirestreet – a new fashion rental company that lets users rent a range of dresses for a 10-day period.

Hirestreet already offers outfits from more than 20 brands, including ASOS, French Connection and Missguided, with plans to introduce more high street names to the service in the near future.

Isabella set the business up with the help of a startup grant from PNE Enterprise.

She said: “In 2018 a shared approach to occasion wear makes a lot of sense but all of the existing fashion rental offers are exclusively designer-focused, making them inaccessible to many young people.

“My research found that no one else in the UK was operating in the high-street fashion rental space, so there was a real gap in the market and that’s why I launched Hirestreet.”

A survey conducted by Hirestreet ahead of launch discovered that more than half of 16-30 year olds only wore outfits once or twice – despite having at least one formal occasion on their calendars each month.

Isabella continued: “We found that potential customers were spending over £500 a year on ‘disposable fashion’ but if each of those outfits was rented as opposed to bought they could save themselves nearly £400.

“Our aim is to enable our customers to save money on clothes, so they can spend it on experiences, while also reducing wasteful clothing consumption.”

Isabella was born and raised in Newcastle, but left to study at Oxford University. Having graduated with a First in Economics & Management, and worked in strategy and finance in London for the last four years, she decided to return to the North East to start Hirestreet.

Speaking further, Isabella commented: “I knew Newcastle would be a great location to launch Hirestreet and at the moment nearly 50% of our orders are from the region.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive reaction and support I’ve received from local businesses, schools and the broader community, as well as the funding from PNE Enterprise. We’ve had an encouraging first few months and I’ve got big plans for expansion moving forward.”